Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Miguel Maysonet, Tommy Brenton and Demmianne Cook named 2012-13 Players of the Year

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook University's Department of Athletics held its annual Awards Ceremony - The Wolfies - Wednesday night at the Student Activities Center on campus with more than 475 people in attendance. Headlining the honorees were Stony Brook Co-Male Athletes of the Year Tommy Brenton (Columbia, Md.) of the men's basketball team and Miguel Maysonet(Riverhead, N.Y.) of the football team and Stony Brook Female Athlete of the Year Demmianne Cook (Nesconset, N.Y.) of the women's lacrosse team.

Just the second player ever to be named America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, Brenton had the best season of any men's basketball player in school history. He led the Seawolves in rebounds, assists and steals while being the catalyst for the America East's leading offense and defense. He graduated as the program's all-time leader in rebounds, assists and steals, recorded the program's first-ever triple-double and set a single-game Div. I program record with 20 rebounds in a game. In addition to his conference player of the year accolades, he was named the 2013 Lefty Driesell Award recipient as the national defensive player of the year.

Maysonet had one of the greatest seasons in Stony Brook, Big South and Football Championship Subdivision history when he rushed for 1,964 yards, the 11th most in FCS history, and 21 touchdowns. He rushed for over 200 yards three times last season, including his signature game - a 220-yard, two-touchdown performance in Stony Brook's 23-3 win at Army, the program's first-ever victory against a member of Football Bowl Subdivision. He was the runner-up for the Walter Payton Award, given to the FCS Player of the Year, named a first-team All-American and was selected as the Big South Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. He had He graduated as the program and the Big South's all-time leader in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. He most recently was a free agent signing of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Cook graduates Stony Brook as the most prolific goal scorer in school history. She finished 2013 with 90 goals, which easily shattered her own program single-season record and was the sixth-best in NCAA women's lacrosse history. She scored seven goals in a game five times and had 10 goals during the Seawolves' run to their first-ever America East Championship title. She was named America East Player of the Year, first-team All-Mid-Atlantic Region and third-team All-American and was the program's first-ever Tewaaraton Award nominee. She graduates as the program's all-time leader in goals scored with 154.

Freshman Jameel Warney (Plainfield, N.J.) of the men's basketball team was named Male Rookie of the Year after a phenomenal rookie campaign that saw him lead the team in scoring and finish fifth in the nation in field goal percentage (61.8%). He was the America East Rookie of the Year, second-team All-District and third-team All-Met Writers.

Freshman Melissa Rigo (East Northport, N.Y.) was named the Female Rookie of the Year after posting one of the most dominant season in program history. She led all America East players and all freshmen in the country in kills per set (4.52) and points per set (5.05). She posted 10 or more kills in every match, 20 or more kills nine times and was the first Seawolves player since 2007 to have 30 kills in a match. She was named America East Rookie of the Year and first-team All-America East.

Sandeep Dhillon (Glen Oaks, N.Y.) of the women's track & field team and Robert Forai (Novi Sad, Serbia) of the men's tennis team were the recipients of the Stony Brook Senior Scholar-Athlete awards, given to the male and female student-athletes with the highest GPAs among the senior class. Dhillon, who has made Dean's List in every semester, has a 3.89 GPA and is majoring in Political Science with minors in Biology and Chemistry. Forai, who is on the America East Commissioner's Honor Roll, has a 3.58 GPA and is majoring in Health Sciences.

Anthony Jackson (Columbus, Ohio) of the men's basketball team and Allison Zelnick (Troy, Ohio) of the swimming & diving team were each named recipients of the Athletic Director's Award for their contributions to their teams and their representation of the five descriptive words that are the ideals Stony Brook Athletics - Commitment, Pride, Passion, Respect and Swagger.Greta Strenger (Woodbury, Minn.) of the volleyball team and Hajime Ichikawa (Scarsdale, N.Y.) of the men's swimming & diving team were both honored with the Faculty Athletic Represenative Award for their contributions to their teams and to the Stony Brook community.

Kristal Conklin (Middletown, N.Y.) of the women's cross country/track & field teams was the recipient of the Courage Award, which was renamed the Dave Alexander Courage Award, in honor of the late Coach Alexander, who was the recipient of the award in 2012. The Dave Alexander Courage Award is given to a member of Stony Brook Athletics who has overcome personal tragedy or serious injury and has demonstrated uncommon bravery in the face of adversity.

Laura Hathaway (Warsaw, N.Y.) of the volleyball team and Michael Bamiro (Tobyhanna, Pa.) of the football team were named the Swagger Award winners, which was voted on by their fellow student-athletes, for fitting the definition of swagger - exuding high confidence in themselves, is fearless in the face of challenge or an opponent, has high expectations of themselves and their program, expects to be great and to perform well both in the classroom and on the field and who chooses to do the right thing at all times.

Brenton, Shayla Giosia (Runnemede, N.J.) of the softball team, Brandon McNitt (Chino Hills, Calif.) of the baseball team, Sa'sha Kershaw (Baltimore, Md.) of the women's soccer team and Eric Speakman (Napier, New Zealand) of the men's cross country team were recipients of the SUNY Chancellor Awards for outstanding achievement in athletics and academics among SUNY's Div. I schools in their respective sports.

Elaine Crosson, Vice President for External Relations at Stony Brook was named the recipient of the Shirley Strum Kenny Service Award for outstanding service towards Stony Brook Athletics and its student-athletes.

John Leddy, Director of Athletic Bands at Stony Brook, received special recognition and a Stony Brook football personalized jersey for his retirement after seven incredible years of service in building the Spirit of Stony Brook Band.

In addition to individual awards, Most Valuable Player and Coaches Awards were handed out to each of Stony Brook's 20 varsity teams.